3:52: Bowman, 54-41. Linton still hanging in there. Bowman’s big men have a bit of foul trouble now, but the Eagles continue to hit jumpers.

HALFTIME: BOWMAN ACADEMY 44, LINTON 31: Bowman’s sterling soph Davon Dillard and Linton’s superb senior Austin Karazsia have 15 points apiece. Miners in trouble, and Eagles a very talented crew, but Linton isn’t out of it. The Miners have to take better care of the ball, already with 14 turnovers. Dess Fougerousse has 10 points for Linton, but half his team’s turnovers, while taking the brunt of Bowman’s relentless pressure.

3:48: Bowman 37, Linton 25. Miners just continue to make too many turnovers and give up too many offensive boards.

END FIRST QUARTER: Bowman Academy 20, Linton 15. If Miners hang onto the ball better, they can maybe stay in it. Austin Karazsia has 10 of the Miner points and soph Davon Dillard has 11 for Bowman.

2:42: Bowman, 13-9, media timeout. Karazsia just made nice plays on both ends, with a strong lane move for a hoop and then a block and recovery on defense.

6:43: Bowman, 2-0. Linton made its first turnover just eight seconds into the game, it’s second just 34 seconds in, and called timeout at 6:43 to avoid a third. This was the main concern going into the game.

PREGAME: This is a dreams-become-reality day every March here at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, with four boys’ basketball state finals contested. Linton’s Miners have the chance to realize dreams in the Class 2A game against Bowman Academy, a private school from Gary that was last year’s state runnerup to Park Tudor and is playing its third state championship game in five years, having won the 2010 Class 1A title.

This year’s 1A game, which tipped off at 10:30 this morning, was a terrific game that went down to the wire before Borden capped off a 55-50 win over Triton. It was Borden’s first state championship in any sport. Borden’s Braves shot 8-for-14 from 3-point range and got 15 points from Jalen McCoy and 13 from Trester Award-winner Michael Lynch. Triton got an impressive 26-point performance from Valparaiso-bound senior Clay Yeo.

The senior-laden 24-3 Miners, led by the terrific 1-2 punch of 6-8 Austin Karazsia and 6-5 Dess Fougerousse, will have to withstand what is likely to be a withering press by a quick and long 17-9 Bowman club, which is accustomed to playing 4A and 3A foes and is 8-0 against 2A competition this season. But Linton has found a way to trump speed and win throughout its tournament run, which has included four straight wins with margins of six or fewer points, including a 76-75 overtime win against Speedway in the semistate.

Most of Linton and a goodly chunk of Greene County figures to be here today for the 12:45 (approximate) 2A tip off. My esteemed and much more youthful colleague Mike Miller is alongside to write today’s game story and I will be writing the column today. As always, we’ll provide updates here on Quick Hits and via Twitter at htograham and bowiemike. Thanks for checking in.